Antistatics.

WellsStat – Antistatics

Overview

Most plastics have a surface resistivity of 1015—1016 ohms.sq. At this level they are good insulators and will be very effective at holding on to any static charge. Static electricity can:

Reduce film manufacturing and packing efficiencies.

Attract dust to the surface of plastic parts, such as bottles, making them unattractive to consumers.

Cause ‘static’ shocks to personnel.

Increase the risk of dust explosions.

Wells Plastics have developed masterbatches that can modify resistivity levels of plastics to values down to around 1010 ohms.sq. At these levels the plastic component will allow any charge to decay to earth and therefore effectively control static related problems

Details

Antistatic agents can be added to polymers to minimize the natural tendency of most plastics to accumulate static charges. Antistatics are based mainly based on migratory additive systems, which can give fast and long term stable antistatic properties. Migratory additives rely upon the presence of atmospheric humidity to give optimum performance.

The speed of antistatic effect and its duration can be optimised through careful choice of the additive. The migration rate is determined by a number of factors including the relative compatibility of the additive and the polymer, polymer crystallinity, total additive formulation, concentration of the antistatic additive and temperature.

Non-migratory antistatic systems are also available. These will give immediate and permanent antistatic performance.